Sip N Strokes

Happy Friday!

A few weeks ago my girlfriend Kami decided to celebrate her birthday at Sip N Strokes. No, it's not a strip club as the OnStar lady thought! It's actually an art studio where you can bring your own wine & paint!

Let me preface this with the following:
I CANNOT PAINT AT ALL. I have no art skills whatsoever!

For $35 you get a canvas & all the supplies. An art instructor walks you through painting the picture. When you go to their website, you can select various dates in which various images will painted.

The night we went, we painted a wine bottle & glass! Kami provided us with cookies & wine glasses that she customized for all of us! We had such a great time!

Unfortunately they are only in a few states, but they are franchising! I think this is a GREAT idea for anyone wanting to start their own business.

We attended the class in Auburn and it was about 3 hours long! So so fun ladies! I highly recommend it if you have one near you!


First we started with an outline...they gave step by step instructions!
(my friend Lisa)

Here's my outline!

The birthday girl's outline!

My finished art piece!
Hanging in the kitchen.
(& yes I signed it as if I were a real artist)

Over my mini bar in the kitchen!
I'm so proud of myself!
(I promise I'm not an alcoholic!)

Close up of the cute wineglasses Kami made for us!

Before & After

So I had this brilliant idea to paint a mirror for my newly striped dining room. I've had this mirror for years & thought maybe it would look better in white. Now, I'm not so sure.

What do yall think?
I haven't hung it up yet because I'm not sure I like it so much.

Before


AfterWell maybe it isn't so bad. After I see it on here I kind of like it! lol

Dining Room Makeover (Part 2)

Well here's the finished product! I am SO in love with the stripes!

Starting the first stripe!
We went with an off white.

First coat on wall one

First coat on second wall

Painting the top stripe


Time to peel off the frog tape!
(I know it looks like the hubby did everything, but I assure you I helped!)

TADA!
I am loving the stripes!

close up of wall 1
close up of wall 2

looking into the kitchen- we almost left the entry way beige.
glad we chose to add stripes!

So what do yall think?

Now I need to find some chevron curtains. I have NO idea what color to use though. As seen in my inspiration image from yesterday's post they had orange & white stripes on the walls & black & white chevron curtains. I am clueless as to what color to use! Suggestions please!

Should we replace the light fixture? I'm thinking yes. We changed out all of the wall plates to bronze, the light fixture is silver tone, and the furniture & floors are brown. We need some color now. The hubby wants to add GOLD but I'm not sure about that. I want an electric look throughout the house instead of everything being a total match.

Help! Seriously- I need suggestions!

Dining Room Makeover (Part 1)

I'm sure everyone has seen the striped walls in various blogs....well I've debated jumping on this bandwagon for some time and finally decided to do it.

Our dining room has been taped off (thanks to hubby & Vu) & we'll be painting it this afternoon! The walls are already beige so we'll just be adding white stripes. We chose to go with thicker stripes, 12" to be exact.

And as I was typing this blog, I happened to learn that starting April 1st, Frog Tape is starting a contest called "Earn Your Stripes"! The grand prize is $5000! woo hoo! I started this project at the right time! So if any of you were thinking of doing stripes, now's the time!
(I was not paid to promote this, as stated above I just came across it!)

My only problem now is I don't have a pic of the dining room without the frog tape! DANG IT! Do I remove the tape & take a before picture for a chance at the $5000?
Decisions, Decisions!

Anyways, here are the before pictures or should I say the during the taping pictures...

Vu & hubby making sure the stripes are straight!

Frog Tape of course!

This area was a little tricky.

Done with the second wall.

The room already looks different!

All taped & ready for paint.

My inspiration!
Now to find some affordable chevron curtains!
image via.

Easter Decor

Some of the Easter decor I've put up so far!

Outside

On the door

On the mantle
In the bathroom
(Yes, I notice I did a terrible job painting along that edge! lol)

RIP Pearline Lawton

We just got back from Augusta, GA tonight. My husband's grandmother died last week and her funeral was today.

It was actually a good trip, seeing old faces again and meeting new family members.

It's just sad that the only times most families ALLL come together is for funerals or weddings.

RIP Pearline Lawton....

I'm back

*Long Blog Alert*

Ok so I finally do to a catch up blog. So what have the Lawton's been up to since July 2010...

In August we decided to remodel. We had been taking about putting in hardwood floors for some time but one day, the hubby finally decided to "just do it." I don't know why he decided to do it right before our big trip to Vegas but I am so glad he did! The hubby & friends did a great job putting them in!

Some of the friends that helped rip the carpet, paint, clean, & lay the floors!

This is the dining room!

I don't have a full before & after pic yet, but I'll search for them & do a before & after post soon!

Well in September, we spent a week in Las Vegas with lots of friends. We were there to celebrate my 33rd birthday and several of my friend's birthdays as well. We did a lot of gambling (came back with 2 whole dollars...seriously). We partied at Club Tao- which IMO is one of the best club's in Vegas!

In October, we went to New Orleans for Halloween! I went as Snooki (Jersey Shore) & my costume was a hit! All night I heard "SNOOKI!!!". I even saw Pauly D & the Situation! lol! Of course everyone stopped me for pictures. So I know I am on someones facebook page for sure!

me on Bourbon St
Valenica, myself, & Beverly
Tom, Keith, Will,
Bev, myself, & Valencia

New Orleans was fabulous! Good times!

When we got back from New Orleans, that's when we got some unexpected news. I don't know what made decide to take a pregnancy test but I did & it came back positive. This was November 10th. We had planned to go to Asheville, NC for our 6th anniversary but with this news we decided to cancel.

I was in complete shock because the doctors had told me I wouldn't be able to get pregnant unless we did in vitro. So I made an appointment for a blood test & it was confirmed. I was happy but scared...after all I had just got back from New Orleans & you know what you do in New Orleans...drink! I am not a big drinker at all, but I did drink. The ultrasound was good but they couldn't get a good heartbeat. I was scheduled to come back about 2 weeks later & unfortunately miscarried (I found out on 12/8) . While this was very devastating, it was actually a HUGE blessing. We were happy to know that I can get pregnant naturally. Keith & I became MUCH closer after this experience. It was like a renewed marriage that I can't explain. We just did a lot of talking and it made me realize I am VERY lucky to have such a wonderful husband. :) So, the doctors advised us to wait at least 3 months before we tried again. And we are almost at 3 months. So I will begin going back to the doctor very soon so we can start trying again.

Flowers from sweet hubby after the miscarriage

On to December...

We threw a Christmas & new year's party in December. Our Christmas Party was a Dirty Santa party which was hilarious. The hubby put the camera on a funky setting so all the pictures came out terrible & blurry! But the gifts included an Elvis hot coco mug set, a beer funnel, a blow up "doll", a disco light ball, etc. It was hilarious!

For New Year's we threw another house party. I have to say this was one of the best new year's. We usually go out & I have a terrible time because it's too crowded & rowdy everywhere. I am really blessed with some great friends from all walks of life. I absolutely love that I have a diverse group of friends. Everyone literally ALWAYS comments about how awesome it is that so many different people come over to our house! LOL!

Me & my Hubby

January

We started a new tradition...Thursday dinner nights! It started when our good friends Julie & Dwayne got a job transfer to NJ. We decided to have a small going away dinner. There were only 6 people...fast forward to March and we're at almost 20 people every Thursday.

We decided on doing different themes each Thursday and each person brings a dish. It works out great! So far we've had Italian, Taco Night, Steak Night, Southern Night, Asian Night, Latin Night, & Jamaican Night!

Excuse the poor lighting in this! I think the photographer had their hand over the flash!

Random pic of Keith & I in front of some of my Valentine's Day decor!
I hate I didn't have lipstick on! lol!

This was Taco Night!
And no our blinds aren't that nasty!
In fact, they're brand new so I don't why they always look so dirty in pictures! :(

February

The hubby's birthday is 2/1 so we decided to go out instead of throwing another house party!

The hubby & I

Keith & my brother

Me & my sis-in-law

As you can see, I had my hair colored RED!

For the hubby's actual birthday we took the day off & spent it in Atlanta. We went to the GA Aquarium and had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. We LOVE the Cheesecake Factory!

The next weekend we had a small Superbowl Party. I know y'all are thinking, man they sure like to party! lol

He went for Greenbay & I went for the Steelers...
and we all know what happened there!

For Valentine's Day we decided to keep it low key. I hate the long waits & crowded restaurants. So we had a nice dinner at a nearby gameroom. Sounds cheesy I know, but they have great food & we didn't have to wait! Perfect!

I also participated in the "pink swap" hosted by Monograms & Manicures! This is what I received...

I absolutely loved all my items! :)

I have several pics of all the additional dinner parties we've had from Jan to now but I will save those for another post because this is already way too long. This week our theme will of course be St Patrick's Day.

We were supposed to be going to Savannah for St Patrick's Day, but sadly one of Keith's grandmothers died and her funeral is this weekend. We'll be headed to Augusta on Friday. :(


Well that's what we've been up to since July. I hope to keep this blog updated more often!